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Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

trailimap.com

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Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#51

Post by hn_user82179 »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #42
ollybee wrote: post #9

What I really want form a bike route planner is a map style that shows smaller roads as you zoom out. When planning a cycling I'm interested in tiny back back roads but they are hidden as soon as I zoom out on any map enough to be useful for route planning.

cycle.travel (my site) aims to do that - the advantage of developing your own cartography! Minor roads in rural areas are shown earlier than in most other styles, but in urban areas they kick in later to avoid cluttering the map too much.

is that your site? I love it! I used it on an 800 mile bike ride 2 years go.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#52

Post by wintermutestwin »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #7

Nice! I added a similar feature to cycle.travel (my site) a few months back. 5% of the work was writing the code to route only on waymarked routes, 95% was writing code to "heal" the accidental breaks in OSM bike route data...

Your site doesn't appear to have waypoints? As an avid cyclist, I couldn't imagine just using some calculated route between two points. I ride for fun, not transportation.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#53

Post by wintermutestwin »

thenewrohirrim wrote: post #17
pppone wrote: post #13

Thank you for this. I personally appreciate the easy to download GPX for my Wahoo. For reference, I've been using [0] to get around the city since Google Maps sucks here. I also really like the routes suggested by [1], but their mobile app is super buggy. [0] - https://cyclers.app/ [1] - https://www.cyclestreets.net/

hi - if you like the routes suggested by 1, try https://cyclema.ps/hello - disclaimer, i'm part of the team behind it.

As a cyclist, I would never plan routes on a tiny phone screen with a crappy UI. I would always plan on a computer and then use the phone to keep me on track.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#54

Post by topher515 »

ollybee wrote: post #9

What I really want form a bike route planner is a map style that shows smaller roads as you zoom out. When planning a cycling I'm interested in tiny back back roads but they are hidden as soon as I zoom out on any map enough to be useful for route planning.

This is sort of what the Strava "heatmap" map is when you switch it to cycling mode: https://www.strava.com/maps/global-heatmap?sport=Ride&style=....

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#55

Post by wintermutestwin »

qrohlf wrote: post #40
ollybee wrote: post #9

What I really want form a bike route planner is a map style that shows smaller roads as you zoom out. When planning a cycling I'm interested in tiny back back roads but they are hidden as soon as I zoom out on any map enough to be useful for route planning.

Not sure if you're looking for paved or unpaved backroads, but if it's the latter I recently shipped a feature at my day job ( https://ridewithgps.com ) that highlights all unpaved backroads, visible up to zoom level 8 (above zoom 8 we start running into tile size/data limitations). May be useful to you or others in this thread. We lean pretty heavily into the "cycling power user" market segment, the feature set isn'…

A subscription? $10 a month?? That's the cost of a music streaming service!!

I'd spend up to a $100 once on a killer tool that meets all my needs in this space.

This subscription first crap is way out of hand.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#56

Post by wintermutestwin »

verelo wrote: post #23
allg12 wrote: post #14

Sorry, forgot to mention. The planner is a mess on mobile I totally forgot to make it mobile friendly as I didn't think anyone would want to plan their trip on a phone.

Interesting assumption. My mind goes to to a) Most people are mobile first and b) In this category of app, i imagine people want the route with them on their phone as they bike (as they're probably unfamiliar with the route, hence the need to plan it) Cool idea, i'd love to try it but honestly i'd love it on my phone for the aforementioned reasons! --- Edit: Some follow up remarks (From Chrome on a Mac) 1. I found it…

>a) Most people are mobile first

I couldn't imagine trying to build a complex route on a tiny screen with a crappy phone UI. I am starting to feel like an old man yelling at clouds here. Why in the hell wouldn't you prefer to use a nice monitor with a mouse for a complex task like this?

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#57

Post by sammyo »

simlevesque wrote: post #48

Reminds me of a story: two years ago I was riding my bike, doing a 45 miles ride from Montreal to Dunham. I was following Google Map's directions and it led me inside a Canadian Army base (Farnham). I saw modified pickup trucks full of guys with rifles about 100 metres from the entrance which said "Keep out" and Google wanted me to go there. I didn't. They changed it now.

I sent in a report sending bikes through a highway tunnel in Boston, took six months but received a message they made the correction.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#58

Post by wintermutestwin »

nodehopper42 wrote: post #6

Are you aware of "brouter"? Depending on the routing rules (upper left selector) you can choose multiple trail preferences. https://brouter.de/essbee/

Unusable for me as it won't let me force a specific route. Yes, a car can't drive through that gate, but I can walk through it with my bike. Auto routing is neat and all, but in the real world, cyclists need more flexibility.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#59

Post by wintermutestwin »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #55
qrohlf wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure if you're looking for paved or unpaved backroads, but if it's the latter I recently shipped a feature at my day job ( https://ridewithgps.com ) that highlights all unpaved backroads, visible up to zoom level 8 (above zoom 8 we start running into tile size/data limitations). May be useful to you or others in this thread. We lean pretty heavily into the "cycling power user" market segment, the feature set isn'…

A subscription? $10 a month?? That's the cost of a music streaming service!! I'd spend up to a $100 once on a killer tool that meets all my needs in this space. This subscription first crap is way out of hand.

Since this is getting downvoted, I'd sure like to hear why you think an app like this justifies a $10/mo sub.

Re: Show HN: Bike route planner that follows almost only official bike trails

#60

Post by joshribakoff »

Constructive feedback: (i am on mobile). The map pulls up somewhere in Europe, even though I am in the bay area. I can’t really see for sure because the side bar covers the whole map. I cannot zoom in or out at all. When I clicked to add a point, it just adds it in a random location. The map is really zoomed out so a few pixels is like 100 km. There is metadata displayed such as the length of my route, but it seems I cannot input a length and have it create a route for me

I have personally had good luck with my Garmin watch. If I start out near a major trail, it tends to suggest routes along that trail. I’m able to input a desired length such as 10 miles and then it suggests multiple routes that are close to that length and use major trails. My biggest complaint with the Garmin is that it tends to suggest the same routes every day.

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